Peaches vs. Nectarines: What's the *Actual* Difference?

My summer isn’t complete until I devour a ripe, juicy peach standing at the kitchen sink. It’s a moment I look forward to all year long, and I savor each bite of the fruit: its tender flesh, and, yes, even its soft, fuzzy exterior. I consider the latter an essential part of the peach-eating experience, though many are downright turned off by a hairy peach. My advice for those folks? Seek out its fuzzless counterpart: the nectarine. 

A nectarine is essentially a bald peach, but, as it turns out, going bald has a few other key effects on the fruit. Peaches and nectarines differ in taste, size, how susceptible they are to diseases, and where they’re grown, as multiple experts told me. And while peach fuzz—or the lack of it—may seem like a characteristic that’s only skin deep, it plays a role in all those other key differences, too. 

How Peaches and Nectarines Came To Be

Peaches: According to Harold McGee’s book On Food and Cooking, both peaches and nectarines are native to China, and eventually made their way to the Mediterranean around 300 BCE. The fruit spread across Europe and arrived in St. Augustine, Florida with the Spanish in the 1500s. Those early peaches were nothing like what we see at grocery stores today, says agricultural historian William Thomas Okie. 

The first peaches in the US, called “Indian Peaches” by colonists, were quite hairy and difficult to transport, as they couldn’t stay fresh for long without modern-day refrigeration. According to Okie, while Native Americans did cultivate these first white-fleshed fruits, European colonists used them for hog fodder, as well as for brandy. It wasn’t until around 1850—when a larger, yellow-fleshed peach variety from China, called the Chinese Cling, was brought to the US—that fruit breeders began producing the peaches we know today, like the Elberta peach or the Bell of Georgia, says Okie.

Nectarines: There is a common misconception that nectarines are a cross between a plum and a peach, but that’s not at all the case. Nectarines are actually the result of a natural mutation within peaches that allow them to develop without their signature fuzz. 

“It’s just a type of peach,” says Thomas Gradziel, a geneticist and professor at the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of California, Davis. “It’s not a different fruit.” A single recessive allele allows for nectarines to develop without the trichomes, or fuzz, found on peaches. In fact, the two are so closely related that some farmers have seen nectarines grow on the same trees as peaches. A fruit may develop with half of its exterior fuzzy, and the other half smooth, says Gradziel. 

The nectarine that we’re most familiar with, however, didn’t come to be until 1936, when California fruit breeder Fred Anderson crossed a white-flesh nectarine with a yellow-flesh peach. That crossing made Anderson known as the creator of the modern day nectarine.

Peaches vs. Nectarines: What’s the Difference?

Beyond just being hairless, peaches and nectarines differin a few key ways: 

Appearance: Typically, nectarines are slightly smaller than peaches, says Gregory Reighard, a horticulture professor at Clemson University and member of the school’s “Peach Team” cooperative extension. That’s because the recessive allele that’s selected when creating a nectarine is also tied to genetic traits that create smaller fruit, so it’s often difficult to get nectarines to match a peach’s size. 

The skin of a nectarine is thinner than that of a peach, notes Reighard. That thinner, smoother skin makes it easier for nectarines to blemish, which is often a turn off for potential customers. The nectarine may also look redder than a peach, but that’s likely due to the lack of fuzz. Inside, peaches and nectarines may have either yellow or white flesh.

Taste: While nectarines may be characterized as a type of peach, they do taste quite different—and that’s also due to the differences in their skin. A nectarine’s compact, waxy skin tends to hold on to flavor compounds better than a peach does, says Gradziel, allowing for less oxidation than in a peach. “Because the oxidation is different, that volatile profile is going to be different,” he says. 

The flavors of both peaches and nectarines will vary widely depending on the color of their flesh. According to Gradziel, both white peaches and nectarines tend to be sweeter and less tart than their yellow counterparts. White peaches and nectarines can also have more of a honey note, while yellow peaches and nectarines will pack a bit more acidity. White and yellow nectarines are slightly more alkaline than peaches on the pH scale, giving them a sweeter taste. They can also be more aromatic—almost floral, depending on the variety—and, even when ripe, have a slightly firmer flesh than ripe peaches. Peaches of both colors also tend to taste a bit more luscious, with tropical fruit notes. 

Both peaches and nectarines come in “clingstone” or “freestone” varieties, which refers to whether or not the fruit’s pit is attached to the flesh. Clingstone peaches are most commonly utilized for processing peaches—like your usual canned and puréed peaches, as well as jams—due to the meltier texture of their flesh. Freestone fruit, however, is what you’ll most likely find in grocery stores. (A local farmers market, however, may have both clingstone and freestone varieties.) Freestone peaches and nectarines tend to have firmer flesh than their clingstone counterparts. 

Agriculture: The season for both peaches and nectarines in the US runs from late April to mid-September, with 95% of the country’s nectarines grown in California. The drier weather is more conducive to growing nectarines commercially than in other peach-growing states, like South Carolina, Georgia, and New Jersey, as the fuzz on a peach makes them more weather- and disease-resistant.

“Those hairs aren’t there to make them cute,” says Grazdiel. “It gives [the fruit] insect resistance. It actually changes the microclimate around that peach, so it tends to make them hotter or cooler, depending on the sunlight or the ambient temperatures and such.” 

Because nectarines blemish easily and are more difficult to ripen, peaches dominate commercial agriculture production in the US: 74,400 acres are dedicated to producing peaches across the country, while only 13,000 are for nectarines. The nectarines in your big-box grocery store are most likely from California, even if you live in a large peach-producing state like South Carolina, says Reighard. To track down local nectarines, you’ll need to seek out roadside farm stands, CSA memberships, and small orchards.

How to Substitute Peaches for Nectarines and Vice Versa

Because nectarines are a type of peach, they can be used similarly, says Reighard. “Whatever you can do with a peach, you can do with a nectarine.” 

Cakes Peach Upside Down Cake

rating:

cook time: 105 mins

serves: 6 to 8

view recipe

Yellow-flesh peaches and nectarines are what’s most commonly used for baking in turnovers, cobblers, and cakes, since they have more acidity to balance out additional sugar than white flesh peaches and nectarines. The yellow flesh of these fruits also adds color to the final product.

When substituting nectarines for peaches, you’ll also want to keep in mind that nectarines tend to be a bit smaller, so check that the number of nectarines you’re using is comparable by weight to what the recipe recommends. If you do experiment with white peaches and nectarines, just know that they may benefit from added acidity or saltier elements to balance out their sweetness, as you can see in this recipe for pickled nectarines, as well as this crisp, which adds blueberries for a bit of tartness. 

The Takeaway

Nectarines are peaches that lack fuzz. Because of that, nectarines tend to be a bit sweeter and aromatic, with an almost honey note, while peaches have a more complex, acidic flavor, as well as notes of tropical fruit. (Ultimately, how acidic or complex the fruit is will depend on the specific variety, though.) Nectarines are also more difficult to grow in wetter climates, as they are more susceptible to disease. 

Yellow-fleshed peaches and nectarines are most commonly used in cooking and baking, as these tend to have more acidity than their white-flesh counterparts. That extra tartness helps balance out the added sugar in many baking recipes. When using nectarines, keep in mind that these tend to be smaller than peaches, and may benefit from incorporating more acidic elements, such as lemon juice. White-flesh nectarines and peaches can be used in cooking, but are most commonly eaten fresh in the US.